Google wants to fill in the TV white spaces
Google is planning a conference call with journalists on Monday to discuss a company filing with the FCC regarding the use of unused portions of the TV spectrum band, known as white spaces.
On the 11:30 a.m. EST call will be Rick Whitt, Google's Washington telecom and media counsel.
Technology companies want to be able to use the spectrum between the TV channels for Internet access, and the FCC is considering opening up the white spaces for use by unlicensed Internet devices. But broadcasters oppose the move, saying it will cause interference.
The FCC has been running tests to see if the white spaces can be used without interfering with TV broadcasts. Microsoft has submitted a prototype device that would use the spectrum for high-speed broadband access.
Google, which is a member of the White Spaces Coalition with Microsoft, Intel, HP, and a few others, may have something similar up its sleeve.
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.
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which the government didn't control communications and pretend,
like any regime, that it speaks for "the people."
And if it wasn't the government, it would be a COMPANY. And then, gee lets think if one COMPANY controled that.
FCC does need to control our airwaves bandwidth, because it is a common property. See the tradgedy of the commons if you want to know why the FCC is there.
These devices are supposed to sense any used frequencies in the area and jump to an unused frequency. Problem is earlier this year they tested this technology at Fedex Field during a preseason game with Washington and the devices failed 50% of the time using frequencies already taken and falsely identifying used frequencies.
So moving forward a year from now when all these devices are now in use, and we are at the superbowl with over 2000 frequencies being used. Generally it takes place in a large metropolitan area, so DTV will be taking up a huge portion of the spectrum and we add over 50,000 of these wireless devices trying to all fight for the very same whitespace. For the NFL it already is a coordination nightmare working with all the agencies involved and making sure nobody is using the same frequency for any one of the 10,000 wireless devices they use and can control. Now we throw in those 50,000 wireless devices that they can't control or predict anything about. Needless to say the coming months will be crucial and interesting.
I don't oppose the new technology, but I do think it needs to be properly tested before a mass rollout occurs.